TheCable

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said on Saturday that six persons have been arrested over the illegal registration and sale of 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) materials.

Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesperson, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja.

He said the suspects were arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for various registration infractions in the ongoing 2017 UTME.

“The fraudsters were arrested from various locations across the country where they were perpetuating their nefarious activities.

“They were arrested from Oyo, Ogun and Maiduguri by officers and men of the NSCDC and brought to Abuja where startling revelations of their operations were made.

“The suspects confessed in the presence of Alhaji Abdullahi Mohamadu, Commandant-General of NSCDC, about the numerous registration infractions that the Board couldn’t imagine.

“Some of these registration suspects are Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres owners licensed by JAMB to conduct registration exercise for the candidates planning to take the forthcoming UTME.”

The board on April 2, arrested 25 persons over illegal registration and sale of 2017 UTME materials, as such bringing the total number of suspects arrested to 31 so far.

He described as worrisome the massive investment by E-Kindle CBT centres to penetrate the airtel system the board often used to perpetrate all forms of wholesome practices.

Benjamin mentioned that the suspects registered candidates without proper biometric, which means such candidates would have problems with their details during examination if not corrected immediately.

He, however, decried the practice by people from some quota in the country to thwart JAMB efforts, under Ishaq Oloyede, to conduct credible UTME and fights against examination malpractice.

The JAMB spokesperson listed some locations from which the suspects carried out their operations to include Oyo, Ogun and Kwara states respectively.

He noted that although the board gave access codes to accredited CBT centres to partake in the registration, a router that was meant for Abia was being used in Maiduguri to register candidates.